Beatrice’s Hopes to Become a Working Royal Thwarted

A fascinating article in The Daily Telegraph today by the well-informed writer Gordon Rayner suggests that Princess Beatrice’s campaign to become a sort of Harry-lite is going nowhere.

“She has found the door to any part-time role as a working royal firmly shut in her face; she was said to have been keen to join her father, the Duke of York (Prince Andrew), on his tour of India later this year, when he will be the Queen’s representative celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, but was turned down,” writes Rayner.

Sources at Buckingham Palace confirmed that the ambitions of Beatrice to accompany her dad on his trip to India have been thwarted.

Rayner says that there is a clear desire to slim down the Royal operation, writing: “There are currently 16 full-time working members of the Royal family, but the Prince of Wales is said to favor cutting that number to eight or nine when he becomes king, leaving no room for the likes of Beatrice.”

Rayner doesn’t mention it, but, unfortunately for Beatrice, the easing of the Yorks out of the bosom of the Royal family has more or less been a foregone conclusion since Beatrice's ghastly mother Sarah Ferguson was filmed drunkenly trying to sell access to Prince Andrew in a tabloid sting.